


The Shine Underneath

by LadyDarkPhoenix (Phoenixfire)



Series: Flash Fiction [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 10:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13500188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenixfire/pseuds/LadyDarkPhoenix
Summary: There was more than one man that helped shape Tony Stark into the man he is. One that tried to teach him his own value where the other constantly put it into question. What lessons could have been imparted over a lifetime?





	The Shine Underneath

**Author's Note:**

> Written for idea-garden's Flash Fiction Challenge
> 
> Day 26: “The remedy for dirt is soap and water. The remedy for dying is living.”

There were a few life lessons Tony had learned in the time spent with his father's butler, the man who's name was given to his most complex A.I. to fill the empty spot his passing had left. There were lessons in school subjects and duties that Howard had considered beneath a Stark that the young boy had enjoyed. At the older man's side he helped make food and clean things, while not his favorite things, meant time spent with a man that cared for him in a way his father never did. 

Jarvis tried to teach Tony lessons beyond just household chores, the man had wanted only the best for the boy's life and it broke his heart to see how the child chased after his father's love only to be rejected at every turn. His mother was better, but she was so consumed with occupying her husband's time it left little for her son. It was her way of protecting him from more than he already endured. If he could give that comforting word, that bit of advice that would help Tony understand that his father's actions weren't his fault, then that was the least he could do.

Jarvis saw the desperation that had led to the first of many stays in the hospital after Tony had graduated so young from college. How he so badly wanted to be his own man, but afraid of disappointing his father as well so he did nothing. He'd been the only visitor to the exclusive mental health rehabilitation center that had been selected after Tony had taken the pills to end his life the last time. The way the teen talked about himself, how he was less than the dirt beneath his father's shoes, it was obvious that he'd been broken by the lies he'd been fed.

“You know my boy,” Jarvis had started, taking the tough, slender hands in his broad ones, “soap and water will remove dirt and reveal the shine of what's underneath.”

“What if there isn't anything? What if it's just a clump of dirt that's washed away to nothing?” Tony had asked, fear in his voice that it was true.

“Tony, you're not nothing, regardless of what your father has told you,” there was a fierceness in the old man's voice as he spoke. “The best way to prove that to yourself isn't by dying, it's by finding the courage to live to see the day he's proven wrong and you show the world the brilliant, kind, strong young man I've had the privilege of watching grow up.”

Tony stared silently down at the ground, wanting to believe what Jarvis had said was true. He'd worked hard to get released and had enjoyed a few more years with him before he'd passed. Taking strength from the man's belief that he was worth something, a lesson he's still trying to get right.


End file.
